Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (Intel) vs Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)

You can select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display
2560 x 1600
CPU
Apple M1
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (Intel) and Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Case
Design, materials, durability and usability

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (Intel)
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 16GB) and an SSD
Advantages of the Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)
  • Around 2.5x better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench R23 test
  • Easier to carry: weighs 300 grams less (around 0.66 lbs)
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 2 versus 1
  • Thinner bezels and 5% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Features a bigger (~11%) battery – 49.9 against 45 watt-hours
  • Provides 60% higher max. screen brightness: 400 vs 250 nits
  • 45% sharper screen – 227 versus 157 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Smaller footprint: 9% more compact case (100.1 vs 110.5 square inches)
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Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.59 kg (3.51 lbs) 1.29 kg (2.84 lbs)
Dimensions 324 x 220 x 17.9 mm
12.76 x 8.66 x 0.7 inches
304.1 x 212.4 x 16.1 mm
11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches
Area 713 cm2 (110.5 inches2) 646 cm2 (100.1 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~75.8% ~79.4%
Side bezels 7.1 mm 8.8 mm
Colors Black Silver, Gold, Gray
Transformer No No
Opening angle 180° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No Yes
Number of fans 1 -
Noise level (max. load) 33.4 dB -

Display

Size 14 inches 13.3 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
PPI 157 ppi 227 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:9 16:10
Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels 2560 x 1600 pixels
HDR support No Yes, HDR10
Touchscreen No No
Coating Matte Glossy (Antireflective)
Display tests
Contrast 1682:1 1069:1
sRGB color space 56.9% 99.8%
Adobe RGB profile 39% 85.9%
DCI-P3 color gamut 38.2% 98.6%
Response time 30 ms 35 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Voltage - 11.4 V
Full charging time 1:50 hr 2:23 hr
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
USB Power Delivery Yes Yes
Charging port position Left Left
Charge power 65 W 30 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weigh of AC adapter 344 grams 172 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 1.7-3.0 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.1 GHz -
Cores 2 8 (4P + 4E)
Threads 4 8
L3 Cache 6 MB -
Integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 Apple M1 GPU
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP - 15 W
Type Dedicated Integrated
Fabrication process 12 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock - 450 MHz
GPU boost clock - 1278 MHz
FLOPS 2.822 TFLOPS 2.6 TFLOPS
Memory size 2 GB System Shared
Memory type GDDR6 LPDDR4X
Memory bus 64 bit 128 bit
Memory speed ~8-10 Gbps 4.27 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 896 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 56 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance

RAM

RAM size
Channels 1x4 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 3200 MHz 4266 MHz
Type DDR4 LPDDR4X
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
Max. ram size 16 GB -

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 1x256 GB
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Audio chip Realtek ALC3287 -
Speakers 2.0 2.0
Power 2x2W -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness 74.2 dB 79.6 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5.1 v5
Fingerprint Optional Yes
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720
Ports
USB-A 2x USB 3.2 No
USB Type-C 1x USB 4.0 2x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 3
HDMI 1x HDMI 1.4 No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) Yes No
SD card reader No No
Proprietary charging port No No

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.8 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Size 10.0 x 5.7 cm 12.1 x 8.1 cm
Surface Plastic Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
10 (35.7%)
18 (64.3%)
Total votes: 28

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